


The Ashgrove hotel

by litra



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Ghosts, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Barry Allen's paranormal blog, Character Death, ColdWestAllen Week: Changing Channels Edition, Day 3, F/M, Getting Together, Ghosts, M/M, Multi, Paranormal, Podfic Welcome, but not in a bad way, mild body horror
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-07
Updated: 2018-06-07
Packaged: 2019-05-19 10:02:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,688
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14871662
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/litra/pseuds/litra
Summary: Barry has just died in room 5 of the Ashgrove hotel. He's become a ghost, which is ironic because he'd come to see if the place was haunted... it is as it turns out, and not just by him.





	The Ashgrove hotel

 

Barry looked down at his body and said, "Well, fuck."

He'd known the building was old, that was par for the course when you were dealing with potential haunted houses. But it was also a fully up and running hotel. He hadn't even given a thought to the wiring. In retrospect plugging in his laptop and his camcorder and trying to charge the spare battery and then realizing his phone was about to die and plugging that in too... might have been too much.

On the bright side Joe couldn't possibly kill him since he was already dead. And he now had conclusive proof that Ghosts did actually exist. 

He scratched the back of his neck and looked around, wondering what he was supposed to do next. Was there going to be a bright light or a hooded figure? Was he supposed to move on? Room 105 of the Ashgrove Hotel looked the same as it had when he'd checked in. Faded blue and white wallpaper. A bed with a blue comforter and striped pillowcases. A picture of a ship on one wall and another of a pair of ducks on the other. The bathroom door was open revealing the standard white tile. His overnight bag was on top of the dresser, and the various electronics were tangled up on the floor around his body.

Barry looked away. There was something unsettling about looking down at his own body. Not that there were any visible injuries or anything, a faint bit of singing from the electrical burn at his fingertips, otherwise he could be... Well, not asleep. He definitely does not look like he's asleep. His eyes are open and staring, all glassy and...

Barry turns around and studies the closed door instead. If he'd a ghost he should be able to walk right through it, and possibly do bunch of other ghostly things as well. Except there's that voice in the back of his mind saying he'll look like an idiot when he walks face first into it. He reaches for the knob instead. There's a little jolt of static as his hand goes straight through the metal. He has to goad himself to actually step through the door, but when he does he goes through it just fine. It feels a bit like he's under water for a second, pressure on all sides, then he's through and in the hallway. 

There was a family with a small child going into room 108. They didn't look up, as he walked closer. He waves a hand in the husbands face just to be sure, but he's as invisible as he expected to be. Barry's very careful not to step through anyone, doors were one thing, but he's not sure he's ready for people.

For lack of anything better to do, he headed to the lobby.

He hears them before he sees them, "-- Come on, we did that with the last one."

"Yeah and it was hilarious."

"Hmmm maybe."

"you just want to go easy on him because he's cute."

"Well you said it, not me."

The voices belonged to a man and a woman. The man was dressed in black with a shaved head. He was handsome in a lean striking way. He had casually draped himself over the couch under the big front window like the whole world was his audience. Barry's eyes slid over him and caught on the woman he was talking to. She was up on the reception desk, swinging her feet back and forth. She was beautiful. Dark skin, and long wavy dark hair. She was wearing a dress straight out of the 40s with a red flower pinned to her collarbone. It was more then just her looks though, he knew her. 

That was Iris West. 

He'd done a ton of research on her. She'd died in 1947 right there in the lobby, shot in the chest. She'd been working the night shift. They thought it was a robbery, but the thief had never been found. Her picture had been in the paper.

Barry realized he was staring and glanced away, back to the man. Barry didn't know who he was, but if he was talking to a ghost then he had to be dead too right? The man was watching him. Barry realized belatedly that their conversation had stopped. He blushed.

"ahh, Hello?"

Iris's hands flew to her mouth, "Oh, you're dead!"

"I'm sorry?" Barry didn't mean for it to come out as a question, but she seemed so exited. Maybe to her it wasn't a bad thing.

"Don't be, Scarlet." The man stood with the grace of a cat. He stepped forward and oh, He was as Tall as Barry was, maybe even a hair taller. That little fact was not doing anything to help his blush. 

Okay so maybe the guy was his type... They were ghosts, it wasn't like anything could happen... could it?

The man offered his hand, "Leonard Snart. Call me Len. Died in '72. Pleasure."

Barry blinked, taking the hand by instinct, as he babbled out his name. "Barry Allen, Bartholomew really but I go by Barry, and I guess I died just now? Wow your hand is cold is that a ghost thing or--"

Iris was laughing. Barry snapped his mouth shut before he could admit that he'd been there to investigate the paranormal... meaning them. 

"You see?" Iris said.

"I never said I disagreed," Len said over his shoulder.

Iris hopped off the desk, her skirt flaring out around her as she came to offer her hand. "Iris West, '47"

Barry kept his mouth, and nodded as he shook her hand. 

Her hand wasn't nearly as cold as Len's. He couldn't help it, he started to ask, and then his eyes caught on her collarbone.

It wasn't a flower pinned to her dress. It wasn't pinned to her dress at all. It was her skin peeling back and away from a dark red hole. It was where she'd been shot he realized suddenly. Whoever it was must have gotten her from behind, not that it was a particularly large hole, but it was very visibly an exit wound. It didn't seem to be bleeding at least. Her dress wasn't stained or anything. Could ghosts even bleed?

Barry realized he was staring again. "Ah, I'm sorry, I umm."

"It's okay." She said, "I was shot, I'm lucky it's as minor as it is."

"It's a death mark, we all have them." Len added.  Then he looked Barry up and down, "Except you apparently. Heart attack?" 

Barry could practically feel Len's eyes on him as the other man circled him. It was almost like getting electrocuted again, but in a good way.

"Electrocution," Barry offered, revealing where the tips of his fingers were burnt. "I overestimated the wiring."

Len laughed. Iris hit him on the arm, but she was smiling too, "Don't mind him. He doesn't have a leg to stand on."

"What did you die of?" Barry couldn't help but ask. He hadn't come across any sign of a second ghost when researching the building. 

"Froze to death, hence the hands." Len held up his hands and wiggled his fingers. "What's left of my body is still under the porch. I crawled in there to get out of the snow but it was a bit too late. One day a dog is going to get in there and someone's going to get a morbid surprise."

"I'm still betting on them finding it during some renovation. They've got to fix this place up eventually." Iris put in. It sounded like an old argument, something that was more habit then actual argument.

Barry nodded, "Right, so umm, what now?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I guess. I just died? I didn't exactly plan this. I mean I might know more about ghosts then some people. Live people anyway, but I'm definitely not an expert. So..." Barry floundered, "What happens next?"

Iris had a hand covering a smile and Len was looking back and forth between her and him, leering like a fox.

"What should we do now Iris?"

It felt like a set up line. Barry was almost tempted to say "The same thing we do every night Pinky," Just to see if one of them would say  _try to take over the world._

Iris let her grin blossom. God she was gorgeous. Barry wondered if she and Len were a thing or if Len liked guys. Barry got stuck on that thought... Len liking guys... 

Except they were all ghosts. What were the social rules  when you were dead?

"Len," Iris hit him on the arm again, "Can't you see he's actually worried about this? He doesn't know! It's a valid fear for a newcomer."

"Am I missing something?"

"You're fine."

"Verry fine."

"Len! As I was saying. You don't have to worry about passing on. We all pass on eventually, but there's no hurry. It's something of a deliberate thing, so no one stumbles into it accidentally. From what I understand, the powers that be want to be very sure we have all the time for closure that we need." Iris took his hand and squeezed it.

"That's nice?" Barry was admittedly a bit distracted, but he did his best to listen.

"Look there's really only three things you need to know kid." Len wrapped an arm around his shoulders, pulling him in close. "One, if you look for the light at the end of the tunnel, you'll find it. Two, you can't go farther than about five miles from where you died. The exact range depends on the person."

Barry nodded, "And the third thing?"

"You really lucked out, ending up with us."

"What he means is; we've been talking about you since you arrived. We were going to put on a whole show after you talked to the receptionist about us, And we'd really like to get to know you better, now that we have the chance." Iris squeezed his hand again.

Barry couldn't help but smile, "I think I'd like that."

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [The Ashgrove hotel [podfic]](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16247405) by [litrapod (litra)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/litra/pseuds/litrapod)




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